The Energy Crises Requires Demand Side Response That Lowers Current Loads. The Energy Crisis is upon us worldwide. For instance, the U.S. Department of Energy predicts that by 2015 there will not, on the average, be enough electric power to supply average demand in the U.S.
One of the controllable offenders is “Vampire Loads”. Also call “Wall Wort Power” or “Standby Power” this electricity waste makes up a large portion of homes' or offices' miscellaneous electric load and is a large waste of power. Vampire Load producers includes cell phone chargers, lap top chargers, notebook chargers, calculator chargers, small appliances, and other battery powered consumer devices.
The U.S. Department of Energy said in 2008:
“Many appliances continue to draw a small amount of power when they are switched off. These “phantom” loads occur in most appliances that use electricity, such as VCRs, televisions, stereos, computers, and kitchen appliances. This can be avoided by unplugging the appliance or using a power strip and using the switch on the power strip to cut all power to the appliance.”
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the following types of devices consume standby power:                1. Transformers for voltage conversion. (Including cell phone, lap top and notepad, calculators and other battery powered devices that use wall chargers).        2. Wall wart power supplies powering devices which are switched off. (Including cell phone, lap top and notepad, calculator, battery powered drills and tools, all of which have wall chargers and have either completely charged the batteries or are actually disconnected from the device).        3. Many devices with “instant-on” functions which respond immediately to user action without warm-up delay.        4. Electronic and electrical devices in standby mode which can be woken by a remote control, e.g. some air conditioners, audio-visual equipment such as a television receiver.        5. Electronic and electrical device which can carry out some functions even when switched off, e.g. with an electrically powered timer. Most modern computers consume standby power, allowing them to be woken remotely (by Wake on LAN, etc.) or at a specified time. These functions are always enabled even if not needed; power can be saved by disconnecting from mains (sometimes by a switch on the back), but only if functionality is not needed.        6. Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS)        
All this means that even when a cell phone, lap top or like device is completely charged, current is still flowing, but not accomplishing anything and wasting electricity. Most recently manufactured devices and appliances continue to draw current all day, every day—and cost you money and add to the Energy Crisis Worldwide.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) (a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce) through its Buildings Technology Research and Development Subcommittee in 2010 stated its goals for reducing “plug loads,” stating:
“The impact of plug loads on overall consumption is quite significant. For commercial buildings, plug loads are estimated at 35% of total energy use, for residential 25%, and for schools 10%.
Opportunities for Lowering Plug Loads Include:                1) more efficient plugged devices and appliances,        2) automated switching devices that turn off unused appliances and reduce “vampire” loads from transformers and other small but always on appliances, or        3) modifying occupant behaviors.”        
The present invention is aimed at one or more of the problems identified above to provide better efficiencies.